Chromatic-printing machine



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1. WV. WHEELER, Jr.

CHROMATIC PRINTING MAGHINE. I Nol333 493. Patented-Dec. 29,1885.

N, vnzns, Phclo-Ulhognphar, Washington, n, c

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

' W. WHEELER, Jr.

v 011301313313 PRINTING MACHINE. No. 333,493. Patented B30529, 1885.

l' G I la I & I

N PETERS, Phma-Lithognpher. Washington 0. c

NITED STATES v i WILLIAM WHEELER,

JR.-, OF STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT.

CHROMATIC-PRINTING MACHINE.

" IL'PF'CIE'I'JATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 333493, dated December 29, 1885.

Application filed February 28, 1885. Serial No. 157,315. (No model.)

- To all whom it may concern:

- simple and novel Be'it known that L'WILLIAM WHEELER, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Stonington, in the county of New London and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Chromatic- Printing Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it 'ap'pertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to print-ing-presses,and has for its object to provide an attachment for cylinder-presses whereby two or more colors may be printed on the same sheet without re- "moval from the cylinder and without stoppage of'the machine, the attachment being applicable to rotating and stop cylinder presses 0 any make.

With these ends in viewI have devised the construction which I have illustrated as applied to an ordinary drum -cylinder press.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, Figure l is a side elevation of a drum-cylinder press with my color attachment applied. Fig. 2 is a section on the line :10 w in Fig. 1, showing the operader; F, the main gripper-rod; and G, the-usual grippers, which inthe present'instance I have termed main grippers. These parts are all of ordinary construction.

As indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, the main gripper-rod and the grippers themselves lie in an open space, which extends across the periphery of the cylinder, the rod beingjour- V naled in arc-shaped pieces H, which are bolted to the cylinder. The mechanism by which the main grippers are actuated-forms no portion of my invention curing-bolt.

otherwise secured to a block, f loosely bolted to a lu'g, K*, forming part of a and has been omitted in order not to confuse the drawings.

The auxiliary grippers consist, essentially, of rests I and gripper-fingers K, which are carried, respectively, by rods 1 and K. The rests are rigidly secured to rods 1 in any suitable manner-asfior example, by being tapped The shape of the rests on, or by set-screws. is not of the essence'of my invention. The preferable form, however, is shown inside elevation in Figs. 1 and 6 and in front elevation in Fig. 3.

I is a sleeve, which is secured to the rest in such a manner as to be free to turn on the sethrough this sleeve, and is screwed into or K, which is collar, K, which in turn is tapped or otherwise rigidly secured to rod K, the essential feature being a joint between rod K and the gripper-finger, so that the latter will be pressed against or lifted away from the rest, depending on the direction in which rod Kis turned.

K is a spring surrounding the gripper-finger which bears against sleeve I and block K and acts to hold the gripper-finger to botl its open and its closed pos1tions,'the latter being when it is pressed down upon the rest] Rods l and K are supported in carriers L rod 1 being rigidly secured therein in arij suitable manner-tor example, by set-screw: L, as shown-and rod K being free to tur therein. The necessary movements to opei and close these grippers are imparted throng] cranks K K located, respectively, at the let and right ends of rod K, (see Fig. 2,) as will b more fully explained.

Carriers L are supported by and are free t move backward and forward upon two guide rods, M, which are supported in plates M a opposite ends of the cylinder. The plates ar secured in position at the ends of the cylinde in any suitable manner, preferably by boltin to the arms of the cylinder.

The carriers may be actuated forward an backward inany suitable manner.

In the drawings 1 have shown a rack, I bolted to the carriers. This rack is engage by agear, N, upon shaft N journaled in pla N, which is bolted or otherwise secured the arms of the cylinder. Back of the gear,

The gripper-finger passes freely" :en in Fig. 2, is a pinion, N, which is enlged byasegment-gear, O, npona bell-crank ver, 0, pivoted to a bracket, 0", which is )lted to the inside of the cylinder, as clearly .own in Fig. 1. P is a rock-shaft journaled in brackets P bolted to the arms of the cylinder. Pis a crank at the outer end of shaft P, Id P is a crank at its inner end. 0 is a rod, which is loosely held in eyes 0, d connects the end of the bellcrank lever th the outer end of the crank, the eyes also ing loosely jonrnaled, respectively, in the d of. the bell-crank lever and outer end of a crank, thus leaving the pin free to movein 2 eyes and the eyes free to move in their irings. 1 Movement is imparted to the rock-shaft by ans of the engagement of roller P, at the ;er end of crank P with a cam, Q, which )olted to the frame-work of the press oute of the cylinder and wholly independently reof. t will be observed in Fig. 1 that cam Q is ivided with an arc-shaped flange, Q',which, vever, is eccentric to the cylinder-shaft, the eral direction of the curve being outward, .which acts while the crank-roller P is sing over it to carry said roller from the ition relatively to the cylinder, which I e indicated by a, to the position indicated these being the extremes of movement he crank'roller P wiil be apparent that the, vibrations of 1k P will be transmitted by the rock-shaft :rank 1? and through rod 0 to the bell- Ik lever, whose segment-gear, meshing with pinion, actuates the gear upon the same t, which in turn engages the rack bolted ie carriers, which are moved outward to :nd of the cylinder. 1 stated above, the relative positions of k-roller P while the forward movement e carriers is taking place is indicated by l b,- but the actual positions of said roller ebeginning and the end of this movement ndicated, respectively, by c and d. is another arc-shaped flange upon cam Q. n is also eccentric to the shaft, but the tion of whose curve is inward, and which :0 return the crank-roller from the relaposition indicated by b to that indicated The actual positions of the roller durie backward movement are indicated by f, it being-of course understood that earn stationary, while the cylinder and the secured thereto are in continual rotation. vill be seen that while the relative move of the crank roller from a to b (actual ment from c to d) is taking place the is riding upon the outer side of flange :outward curve of whichis justsuflicient the carriers, and with them the auxiliary grippers, to the right of the cylinder. When the crank-roller has reached the end of flange Q, 7 it passes between the ends of the two flanges and rides upon the inner side of flange Q, the inward curve of which is just sufficient to imparta movement to the rock-shaft, which is transmitted through the intermediate mechanism to return the segment-gear, carriers, auxiliary grippers, &c., to the position shown in Fig. 2. While the crank-roller is passing from the actual position indicated by d to that indicated by e. its relative position is station- 3 ary; but while passing from the point indicated by e to that indicated by f, it relatively changes from the position indicated by bto the original position, indicated by a, at which time the parts will have all returned tothe positions 3 indicated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

I have shown the cam as provided with flanges, one of which is curved outward and the other inward, as I deem that the prefer-. able construction. it should be understood, 0 however, that the special style of cam is not of the essence of my invention, as a cam provided with a groove for the roller to travel in would accomplish exactly the same result.

The opening and closing movements areimparted to the auxiliary grippers as follows: K K are cranks located, respectively, at the left and right ends of the gripper finger rod K. Rand R are cams bolted to the framework of the machine, respectively, at the left :00 i

and right ends thereof. These cams-are located ator near the journal-boxes of the cylinder'shaft, and are external to the arms of the cylinder, although in fact within the cylinder, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. Starting 105 .with the parts in the position shown before the forward movement of the carriers with the auxiliary grippers begins, crank Kcomes in contact with cam R, which throws the auxiliary grippers to their opened position, in as shown in full lines in Fig. .6, in which position they are maintained by the action of spring K until just before the return :movement begins, at which instant cran-kK comes in contact with cam R, which acts to l s close the grippers, in which position they are maintained by the spring until the return movement is finished, and they are again opened by cam R. It will be seen that spring K has a double action-that is, it swings past 120 a center, and when upon one side of the center acts to hold the gri per open, and when upon the other side to hold it closed. S is the reel for removing the printed sheets, being provided with grippersS, similar-to the main '1 2 5' grippers upon the cylinde These grippers are actuated in any suitable manner, and form no part of my present invention- The reel is )art a movement to the rock-shaft, which, ismitted through the intermediate mech ,will move the segment-gear Otoward "t in Fig. 2, thus rotating the pinion and so timed as to make two revolutions to each revolution of the cylinder, andin order notto 1 o interfere with the transfer of the sheets one side is made less full than the other, as indi cated at S.

engagement with the rack, which moves As stated above, the object of my invention;

is to provide an attachment applicable to ordinary presses which is adapted to print in two or more colors in other words,to produce chromatic printing by transferring the sheet upon the cylinder. 7

I have illustrated my invention as applied to a press adapted to print in three colors.

The cylinder is made wide enough to accomodate three sheets side by side. The main grippers extend the full length of the cylinder, as usual, but the auxiliary grippers only extend two thirds of the length of the cylinder. The reel in a press for three colors only requires to be one-third the length of the cylinder, and is of course at the farther side, as seen in Fig. 1. The form upon the bed is divided into as many parts as there are colors to be printed. The nearest part, when viewed as in Fig. 1, being printed first and so on, the sheet being transferred to the second part, and then to the third, after which it is removed by the reel.

The operation is as follows: The sheets are fed in at the end of the table toward the front in Fig. 1. At the edge of the table they are" seized by the main grippers and held while being carried around by the cylinders, the bed moving forward and the impression of the first color being made in the usual manner. Turning now to Fig. 2, while the first impression is being made the auxiliary grippers move from the position in which they are shown over to the right of the machine, and are also thrown to their open position, as shown in Fig. 6. It is of course understood that the main grippers open and close with each revolution of the cylinder. The mechanism for operating them has not been shown, as it is not of my invention. The movement of the auxiliary grippers is so timed that they close upon the sheet before the main grippers open, so that when released by the main grippers the sheet is firmly held by the auxiliary grippers. The return movement of the auxiliary grippers now takes place which carries the first sheet over to the middle of the cylinder, the transfer being made however without thesheet leaving the cylinder, but simply passing over its face toward the back, as seenin Fig. 1. As soon as the auxiliary gripper with the first sheet have reached the position shown in Fig. 2, the second sheet is fed in, and the. main grippers close upon both the first and second sheets. At the next instant the auxiliary' grippers are opened and again commence their forward movement. While the second revolution of the cylinder is taking place the first color is printed upon the second sheet, and the second color upon the first sheet. The auxiliary grippers now close upon both the first and second sheets, the main grippers open, and the auxiliary grippers,carrying both thefirst and second sheets, return to their normal position, as in Fig. l. The third sheet is now fed in, and the main grippers close upon all three sheets. The third revolution of the cylinder prints the third color upon the first sheet, the second 'to be printed. sheets do not leave the cylinder when the;

.secured to a rod which is free color upon the second:sheet, and thefirst.

color upon the third sheet, the auxiliary grippers acting as before. After the third revolution the reel removes the firstisheet, the second sheet receives the third color, the third sheet receives the second color, and a fourth sheet is fed in. and receives its first color. The operation would be the same were four, five, or any other number of colors to be printed upon the sheets, a fresh sheet would be fed in at each revolution of the cylinder,

each sheet upon the cylinder would be trans-' ferred the proper distance forward, and the last sheet after receiving the final color would be removed by the reel, aslalready fully described. The length ofcylinder required depends of course upon the width of the sheets Owing to the fact that the transfers are made, and that the auxiliary grippers'close upon'the sheets before the main grippers release their hold, it will be seen that the possibility of the sheets failing to register is wholly done away with. They register as a matterof course, and perfect accuracy is certain unless the parts are thrown out of adjustment.

It should be understood that I do not limit myself to the exact construction shown and described, as it is obvious that the details may be varied within reasonable limits without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim 1. The combination, with the cylinder and ordinary grippers of a printing-press, of auxiliary grippers, carriers therefor, mechanismfor example, a cam, rock-shaft, bell-crank lever, and gearingfor moving the carriers back ward and forward at predetermined ti mes,

and mechanismfor example, cranks and.

cams-for opening and closing the auxiliary grippers at predetermined times, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with the cylinder and grippers of aprinting-press, of auxiliarygrippers, carriers therefor, and mechanismfor example a cam, rock-shaft, bell-crank lever, and gearing-for moving the carriers backward and forward at predetermined times.

3. In a printing-press, auxiliary grippers consisting of rests secured to a rod which is rigidly secured to carriers, and gripper-fingers carriers, in combination with mechanism-as cranks atthe ends of the rod, and stationary cams engaged by the cranks -Whereby the grippers are caused to open and close at predetermined times.

4. Rests I, secured to rigid rod 1, in combination with fingers K, held in sleeves I, and pivoted at their lower ends to lugs projecting from a loose shaft, and springs K upon the fingershanks, whereby when thrown past the center the fingers are held to either their open or closed positions.

5. Rod 1, having rests I, With pivoted to turn in the sleeves l, secured thereto,in combination with rod K, having sleeves with projecting lugs, and gripper-fingers K, held in said sleeves and pivoted to the sliding blocks.

6. The auxiliary grippers, carriers, and rack, in combination with fixed ,cam Q and intermediate mechanism-as a rock-shaft having a crank at each end, connecting-rod, bellcrank lever,and gearing whereby the carriers with the auxiliary grippers are caused to move back ward and forward during eachyevolution of the cylinder.

7. Cam Q, having outwardly-curved flange Q and inwardly-curved flange Q rock-shaft P, having a crank which engages the cam, and at its opposite end a crank with an eye for one end of the connecting-rod, in combination with a bell-crank lever having at one end an eye for the other end of the connectingrod, and at its other end a segment gear which imparts through intermediate gearing backward and forward movement to the carriers and auxiliary grippers.

8. Ihe cylinder plates M, and rods M, secured therein, in combination with the auxiliary grippers, carriers therefor, which move on the rods, and mechanism-as the rock-shaft having cranks, bell-crank lever, and gearing, and a stationary cam-whereby the carriers are moved backward and forward at prede termined times.

9. The cylinder, and rods M, secured thereto, in combination with the carriers supported on said rods, the gripper-rods I and K, supported in the carriers, and stationary cams at opposite ends of the cylinder, which are engaged by cranks upon rod K to open and close the grippers at predetermined times.

10. In a printing press, the combination, with the cylinder and the main grippers, of auxiliary grippers, which seize the sheet before it is released by the main grippers, and when it is released carry it forward a predetermined distance before the main grippers again close upon it.

11. In a printing press, the combination, with the cylinder, the main grippers, and the auxiliary grippers, of a reel for removing the sheets, which is provided with a reduced portion, S substantially as and for the purpose Set forth.

In testimony whereofI affix my signature in presence oftwo witnesses. 7

WILLIAM WHEELER, JR.

\Vitnesses:

JOSEPH S. G. COBB, JOSEPH H. Mormon. 

